Background & Aims

Acute Pain services (APS) play a significant role in reducing pain in the post-operative period.(1)Clinical record maintaining and analysis is an essential part for the growth and development of the services. (2)We describe our journey from traditional hard copy clinical sheets to personalized in house electronic APS data archiving process.

Methods

Traditionally, the clinical notes were entered in physical sheets specific to the service with only important patient related communication being entered in the hospital electronic medical record system. The service related data was manually transferred, to a statistical based software for analysis and regular audits. Physical sheets are vulnerable to loses, misplacement and mounts to duplication of data entry in varied formats. Retrieving of the clinical sheets from respective location also poses hurdles to a service that caters to in patients admitted at varied locations in the hospital. A need to streamline the data recording and ease the retrieval process was felt. Recognizing the criticality of efficient data management, the Acute Pain Management Application was conceived in 2018. The web base acute pain management application was developed by hospital IT team using Visual studio .Net and AS400 database.

Results

The application was meticulously designed to seamlessly integrate into existing clinical workflows, digitizing manual processes prevalent in the field. The same was then thoroughly tested by the clinical team and finalized after a few iterations. By meticulously analyzing existing protocols, a robust web-based platform was developed, catering to the unique needs of acute pain management. the application adopts a three-tiered, client-server architecture, ensuring scalability, reliability, and security. This architecture not only streamlines data management processes but also enhances the quality and accessibility of medical records.(3)So far, over 10,000 patient records have been entered into the APS web application. Creation of a unique link for the APS protected by individual password ensures accountability of all data entries. Mandatory fields ensures no loss of essential information. Safety features alerts the user for common errors. The link allows a platform to access important hospital based protocol and information. The potential fatal drawback of this system would remain a server related malfunction and loss of huge data and hence sound retrieval process is mandatory. Impact and ease of complex analysis from this digital database, with previous manual entries is awaited.

Conclusions

The Acute Pain Management Application stands as a testament to the synergy between medical expertise and technological innovation. By harnessing the power of digital solutions, healthcare providers can deliver more efficient and personalized care, ultimately improving patient outcomes and advancing the standard of acute pain management.

References

References:
1.Al-Saidi I, Russell A, Dizdarevic A. The Acute Perioperative Pain Service: Impact, Organization, and Future Directions. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2023 Sep;27(9):399-405. doi: 10.1007/s11916-023-01133-2. Epub 2023 Jun 24. PMID: 37354296.
2.Rostami R, Nahm M, Pieper CF. What can we learn from a decade of database audits? The Duke Clinical Research Institute experience, 1997–2006. Clin Trials. 2009 Apr;6(2):141-50. doi: 10.1177/1740774509102590. PMID: 19342467; PMCID: PMC3494997.
3.Love BL, Jensen LA, Schopflocher D, Tsui BCh. The development of an electronic database for Acute Pain Service outcomes. Pain Res Manag. 2012 Jan-Feb;17(1):25-30. doi: 10.1155/2012/256154. PMID: 22518364; PMCID: PMC3299031.

Presenting Author

Sumitra Bakshi

Poster Authors

Sumitra Bakshi

MD; DNB( Anesthesia)

Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, INDIA

Lead Author

Aditi Sawant

Department of Information Technology, Tata Memorial Hospital

Lead Author

Sandhya Joshi

Department of Information Technology, Tata Memorial Hospital

Lead Author

Sandeep Sawarkare

Tata Memorial Hospital

Lead Author

Topics

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